SOCCER: Pulisic to start for United States in round-of-32 match against Bosnia

SANTA CLARA, California — Christian Pulisic returned to the United States starting lineup for Wednesday’s World Cup round-of-32 match against Bosnia after recovering from calf trouble earlier in the tournament.

The U.S. captain made a substitute appearance in the Americans’ 3-2 group-stage loss to Turkey but was restored to the starting XI by coach Mauricio Pochettino for the knockout-stage clash.

Pochettino selected the same lineup that opened the tournament with a 4-1 victory over Paraguay, signaling confidence in the group that produced the team’s strongest performance of the competition.

Bosnia coach Sergej Barbarez made three changes to his side, including leaving U.S.-born winger Esmir Bajraktarevic on the bench.

The winner of the match will advance to the round of 16 to face Belgium.

United States lineup:

Matt Freese; Sergino Dest, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Tim Ream, Alex Freeman, Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie, Malik Tillman, Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun.

Bosnia lineup:

Nikola Vasilj, Tarik Muharemovic, Sead Kolasinac, Amar Dedic, Nikola Katic, Stjepan Radeljic, Armin Gigovic, Ivan Sunjic, Ermedin Demirovic, Edin Dzeko, Kerim Alajbegovic.

-Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Toby Davis/Reuters